Rams give Cowboys a clean look in scrimmage 

OXNARD, Calif. – The Los Angeles Rams got their second look at an NFL opponent in a joint practice against the Dallas Cowboys. The Rams play the Cowboys in a preseason football game at SoFi Stadium on Aug. 11, three days after their scrimmage against last season’s NFC East champions.

“First of all, it was good to be able to get the work [in today],” said Rams head coach Sean McVay. “We had a lot of reps for our first group… ended up on both sides of the football. [We] didn’t have any sort of issues and that was the goal. I have a ton of respect for the Cowboys, [Head] Coach [Mike] McCarthy, [and the] Jones family.

McVay continued, It’s a first-class operation and to be able to come out here and get the work that we did, it was a positive day for us. We’ll look at the film and we’ll have a lot of things that we’ll be able to correct, but this is [a] practice and then we’ll be able to continue to move forward.”

The one thing the Rams corrected against the Cowboys that they had failed to do against the Los Angeles Chargers in their first scrimmage was giving quarterback Matthew Stafford a much cleaner pocket to operate.

The Chargers willed themselves into Stafford’s wheelhouse and produced numerous tipped or deflected passes, some of which led to turnovers. The offensive line of the Rams did a much better job protecting the quarterback space while lining up against Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence and the Dallas defensive unit.

“When you really look at it, there were some things that were uncharacteristic [last week]. A lot of the plays that didn’t feel good in the previous practice were tipped balls,” McVay said. “Those are sometimes unforeseen things that you can’t really do anything about. I thought Matthew [Stafford] made good decisions against the Chargers and I thought he was excellent today. Micah is an unbelievable player. DeMarcus Lawrence [is as well].”

With the regular season fast approaching and the preseason already here, McVay is looking for one thing from his ballclub: steady improvement.   

“What I’m interested in is guys improving every single day,” McVay said following the Rams’ scrimmage against the Chargers on Aug. 4. “A lot of guys have done that. Sometimes it’s been a little bit halted with certain position groups because of the injuries that we’ve sustained. But again, that’s not going to be an excuse for me. Our job is to be able to get this roster ready to go and we’re going to continue to focus on that.”

Puka Nacua is one player that has shown he is ready to take his game to the next level as he has been a constant standout in training camp.

McVay and the Rams offense were without the services of Nacua against the Cowboys as the second-year wide receiver got a little banged up in the scrimmage against the Chargers, and probably won’t be available until the first game of the regular season.

McVay, however, didn’t send any sound alarm bells worrying about whether Nacua will be ready for the Rams’ Week 1 matchup against the Detroit Lions. 

“Yeah, he got his knee banged up,” McVay remarked after a team practice on Aug. 6. “You saw he made a touchdown catch in the tight red area, which I would’ve challenged and called a touchdown because one knee equals two feet.”

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“When he was moving around a little bit more, he had a later route that he was running [and] he kind of felt it a little bit. [He] really just had a little bit of a sack bursted. It’s just going to be week-to-week with him. Nothing serious [or] nothing structurally. He’ll be in good shape. He’ll recover and we’ll be ready to go. No threat of anything for Detroit,” McVay added.

Nacua was not the only starter McVay and the Rams were without in their joint practice with Dallas. The core of the offensive line (Jonah Jackson, Rob Havenstein, and Alaric Jackson) suffered injuries at one point or another during training camp.   

The Rams signed several offensive linemen to help offset the temporary loss of the injured trio.

“We have to play football to get ready to play football,” McVay quipped. “This is the way that we try to do it to simulate as close to it while minimizing some of the risk for injury.” 

“Sometimes that occurs and you look at it and you say, ‘Alright, is this a result of things that we can prevent? Is it a bunch of soft tissues?’ No, these are things that you can’t be afraid to practice. I had to learn that the hard way, but I’d much rather us figure this out, try to develop the depth in the meantime, and then fortunately we are going to get those guys back,” McVay went on to say.